Madeleine

This is the story of a woman on a quest to discover her proper place in the world—both the Earth itself and a world which is hers to win. She’s someone ready to make her own way, using her own experiences to transform-heal-create. She is a product of her environment—an American, an immigrant, and an achiever. She finds herself living in a new land, looking to find fertile ground to manifest her full potential in the New World.

The reference to Ayn Rand here represents the parallel of both women immigrating to America, in different eras, but with a shared universal story. She has the luxury to live in a free society, and in a culture where people recognize achievement. But her internal struggle to find herself continues to be the driving force and motivation for her quest. The thread of the story remains at all times the interdependent connectivity of our bodies to the world around us. The world destroys itself as much it regenerates. This is also true with our physical beings/identities.

The film is paying homage to the breathtaking and mysterious imagery of Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, and the idea that the conscious and the subconscious are constantly battling each other. In the psychology of Carl Jung, the psyche exists beyond time and space, and we are constantly trying to uncover the dynamics that hide behind our deepest thoughts. We are incessantly questioning. “Is it possible to be one and the same person at the same time? I mean, two people?”

"[When] I came home and saw myself in the mirror and thought: we’re alike." (Persona (1966) Ingmar Bergman) The reference to the “Proustian moment,” the madeleine dipped in coffee, represents the involuntary journey of the memory that we experience when triggered by our sense of taste. Our minds can evoke recollections of the past without much effort. This film invites the viewer to practice self-analysis, question the reality we live in, and explore how we can become self-aware individuals. We believe fashion is about personal style. We consciously combined something vintage, that had a second, maybe third life with garments from Topshop-a fast brand dedicated to improving their environmental impacts and promoting a responsible attitude towards people in their supply chain.

Gabriela Oltean

Born in Transylvania-Romania, to artistically-inclined parents, they provided her first experiences with creative expression.

She worked for many years as a model and at times, the intensive travel and work schedule made her feel displaced, leaving her with the desire to express herself more creatively. She was searching to have more outlets to voice her love for art.

She graduated The Interior Design and Architecture from UCLA.

Living in Hollywood and being in love with the cinematic arts, she discovered the world of sets and movie-making magic, in front and behind the camera. She explored a range of projects in that industry, from dressing sets to styling models and actors, to photography.

In fashion, she learned to hone an eye for all things beautiful, to watch, adapt and develop the ability to find inspiration in everything around her.